SummaryThe most energetic electromagnetic phenomena in the Universe are believed to be powered by the collision of two neutron stars, the smallest and densest stars on which surface gravity is about 2 billion times stronger than gravity on Earth. However, a definitive identification of neutron star mergers as central engines for short-gamma-ray bursts and kilonovae transients is possible only by direct gravitational-wave observations. The latter provide us with unique information on neutron stars' masses, radii, and spins, including the possibility to set the strongest observational constraints on the unknown equation-of-state of matter at supranuclear densities.
Neutron stars binary mergers are among the main targets for ground-based gravitational-wave interferometers like Advanced LIGO and Virgo, which start operations this year. The astrophysical data analysis of the signals emitted by these sources requires the availability of accurate waveform models, which are missing to date. Hence, the theoretical understanding of the gravitational spectrum is a necessary and urgent step for the development of a gravitational-based astrophysics in the next years.
This project aims at developing, for the first time, a precise theoretical model for the complete gravitational spectrum of neutron star binaries, including the merger and postmerger stages of the coalescence process. Building on the PI's unique expertise and track record, the proposed research exploits synergy between analytical and numerical methods in General Relativity. Results from state of the art nonlinear 3D numerical relativity simulations will be combined with the most advanced analytical framework for the relativistic two-body problem. The model developed here will be used in the first gravitational-wave observations and will dramatically impact multimessenger astrophysics.

The most energetic electromagnetic phenomena in the Universe are believed to be powered by the collision of two neutron stars, the smallest and densest stars on which surface gravity is about 2 billion times stronger than gravity on Earth. However, a definitive identification of neutron star mergers as central engines for short-gamma-ray bursts and kilonovae transients is possible only by direct gravitational-wave observations. The latter provide us with unique information on neutron stars' masses, radii, and spins, including the possibility to set the strongest observational constraints on the unknown equation-of-state of matter at supranuclear densities.
Neutron stars binary mergers are among the main targets for ground-based gravitational-wave interferometers like Advanced LIGO and Virgo, which start operations this year. The astrophysical data analysis of the signals emitted by these sources requires the availability of accurate waveform models, which are missing to date. Hence, the theoretical understanding of the gravitational spectrum is a necessary and urgent step for the development of a gravitational-based astrophysics in the next years.
This project aims at developing, for the first time, a precise theoretical model for the complete gravitational spectrum of neutron star binaries, including the merger and postmerger stages of the coalescence process. Building on the PI's unique expertise and track record, the proposed research exploits synergy between analytical and numerical methods in General Relativity. Results from state of the art nonlinear 3D numerical relativity simulations will be combined with the most advanced analytical framework for the relativistic two-body problem. The model developed here will be used in the first gravitational-wave observations and will dramatically impact multimessenger astrophysics.

SummaryThe status quo of particle physics after the first data taking at the Large Hadron Collider is: a light Higgs particle has been discovered that is perfectly compatible with the electroweak Standard Model (SM). While this is undoubtedly a historic step in particle physics, it is not entirely satisfactory, as in its current state the SM leaves many questions unanswered.
If the Standard Model of today is just the low energy theory of more complex phenomena, then these phenomena will become manifest in modifications of the cross sections and differential distributions of known processes. These modifications can be described by higher dimensional operators, which are general extensions of the SM and can be tested using precision measurements of diboson production processes.
The DIMO6Fit project will focus on measuring those production processes most sensitive to the new physics effects, using innovative analysis techniques aimed at significantly reducing the debilitating limitations in current measurements. I will set up a novel combined global fit for determining the higher dimensional operators coherently based on the LHC measurements.
The full determination of the higher dimensional operators will be the first global precision test of general extensions to the SM. The ERC Starting Grant will make it possible to bring together a team that will conduct more efficient measurements then today at the ATLAS experiment, that will establish the framework for new precision tests, and will generate results of yet unforeseeable potential. With DIMO6FIT I will establish an exciting programme aiming at determining the higher dimensional operators, which will help uncover new physics and elucidate its nature. These novel studies will form a unique and significant contribution to the understanding of the fundamental interactions of known and possibly yet unknown particles.

The status quo of particle physics after the first data taking at the Large Hadron Collider is: a light Higgs particle has been discovered that is perfectly compatible with the electroweak Standard Model (SM). While this is undoubtedly a historic step in particle physics, it is not entirely satisfactory, as in its current state the SM leaves many questions unanswered.
If the Standard Model of today is just the low energy theory of more complex phenomena, then these phenomena will become manifest in modifications of the cross sections and differential distributions of known processes. These modifications can be described by higher dimensional operators, which are general extensions of the SM and can be tested using precision measurements of diboson production processes.
The DIMO6Fit project will focus on measuring those production processes most sensitive to the new physics effects, using innovative analysis techniques aimed at significantly reducing the debilitating limitations in current measurements. I will set up a novel combined global fit for determining the higher dimensional operators coherently based on the LHC measurements.
The full determination of the higher dimensional operators will be the first global precision test of general extensions to the SM. The ERC Starting Grant will make it possible to bring together a team that will conduct more efficient measurements then today at the ATLAS experiment, that will establish the framework for new precision tests, and will generate results of yet unforeseeable potential. With DIMO6FIT I will establish an exciting programme aiming at determining the higher dimensional operators, which will help uncover new physics and elucidate its nature. These novel studies will form a unique and significant contribution to the understanding of the fundamental interactions of known and possibly yet unknown particles.

Max ERC Funding

1 497 000 €

Duration

Start date: 2017-02-01, End date: 2022-01-31

Project acronymExclusiveHiggs

ProjectSearch for New Physics in First and Second Generation Quark Yukawa Couplings through Rare Exclusive Decays of the Observed Higgs Boson

Researcher (PI)Konstantinos NIKOLOPOULOS

Host Institution (HI)THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM

Call DetailsStarting Grant (StG), PE2, ERC-2016-STG

SummaryFollowing the discovery of a Higgs boson with a mass of about 125 GeV, a detailed set of property measurements has confirmed that it plays a central role in the spontaneous breaking of the electroweak symmetry.
Nevertheless, its role in the generation of fermion mass, in particular of the first and second generation, is still unclear. In the Standard Model (SM) this is implemented in an ad hoc manner through Yukawa interactions, and many beyond-the-SM theories offer rich phenomenology and exciting prospects for the discovery of New Physics in this sector.
This project will attack - for the first time - in a systematic and comprehensive way the experimentally most unconstrained sector of the SM: the couplings of the light-quarks (up, down, charm and strange) to the Higgs boson, including possible flavour-violating interactions. The rare exclusive Higgs boson decays to a meson and a photon or Z boson, which is a novel and unique approach, will be searched for with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). At the same time, an extensive set of measurements of analogous rare exclusive decays of the W and Z bosons will be performed, further enhancing the scientific value of the proposed research programme.
The expected branching ratio sensitivity of 10^{-6} for the Higgs boson decays, and 10^{-9} for the W and Z boson decays will probe viable New Physics models, and in several cases will reach and surpass the SM predictions. This project will lead to a profound extension of the ATLAS and LHC physics output, going beyond what was previously considered possible. It will open a new line of research in the Higgs sector, providing relevant input to many different areas of frontier research, including particle cosmology and planning for possible future particle physics facilities.

Following the discovery of a Higgs boson with a mass of about 125 GeV, a detailed set of property measurements has confirmed that it plays a central role in the spontaneous breaking of the electroweak symmetry.
Nevertheless, its role in the generation of fermion mass, in particular of the first and second generation, is still unclear. In the Standard Model (SM) this is implemented in an ad hoc manner through Yukawa interactions, and many beyond-the-SM theories offer rich phenomenology and exciting prospects for the discovery of New Physics in this sector.
This project will attack - for the first time - in a systematic and comprehensive way the experimentally most unconstrained sector of the SM: the couplings of the light-quarks (up, down, charm and strange) to the Higgs boson, including possible flavour-violating interactions. The rare exclusive Higgs boson decays to a meson and a photon or Z boson, which is a novel and unique approach, will be searched for with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). At the same time, an extensive set of measurements of analogous rare exclusive decays of the W and Z bosons will be performed, further enhancing the scientific value of the proposed research programme.
The expected branching ratio sensitivity of 10^{-6} for the Higgs boson decays, and 10^{-9} for the W and Z boson decays will probe viable New Physics models, and in several cases will reach and surpass the SM predictions. This project will lead to a profound extension of the ATLAS and LHC physics output, going beyond what was previously considered possible. It will open a new line of research in the Higgs sector, providing relevant input to many different areas of frontier research, including particle cosmology and planning for possible future particle physics facilities.

Max ERC Funding

1 499 945 €

Duration

Start date: 2017-03-01, End date: 2022-02-28

Project acronymFastBio

ProjectA genomics and systems biology approach to explore the molecular signature and functional consequences of long-term, structured fasting in humans

SummaryDietary intake has an enormous impact on aspects of human health, yet scientific consensus about how what we eat affects our biology remains elusive. To address the complex biological impact of diet, I propose to apply an unconventional, ‘humans-as-model-organisms’ approach to compare the molecular and functional effects of a highly structured dietary regime, specified by the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church (EOCC), to the unstructured diet followed by the general population. Individuals who follow the EOCC regime abstain from meat, dairy products and eggs for 180-200 days annually, in a temporally-structured manner initiated in childhood. I aim to explore the biological signatures of structured vs. unstructured diet by addressing three objectives. First I will investigate the effects of the two regimes, and of genetic variation, on higher-level phenotypes including anthropometric, physiological and biomarker traits. Second, I will carry out a comprehensive set of omics assays (metabolomics, transcriptomics, epigenomics and investigation of the gut microbiome), will associate omics phenotypes with genetic variation, and will integrate data across biological levels to uncover complex molecular signatures. Third, I will interrogate the functional consequences of dietary regimes at the cellular level through primary cell culture. Acute and long-term effects of dietary intake will be explored for all objectives through a two timepoint sampling strategy. This proposal therefore comprises a unique opportunity to study a specific perturbation (EOCC structured diet) introduced to a steady-state system (unstructured diet followed by the general population) in a ground-breaking human systems biology type of study. This approach brings together expertise from genomics, computational biology, statistics, medicine and epidemiology. It will lead to novel insights regarding the potent signalling nature of nutrients and is likely to yield results of high translational value.

Dietary intake has an enormous impact on aspects of human health, yet scientific consensus about how what we eat affects our biology remains elusive. To address the complex biological impact of diet, I propose to apply an unconventional, ‘humans-as-model-organisms’ approach to compare the molecular and functional effects of a highly structured dietary regime, specified by the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church (EOCC), to the unstructured diet followed by the general population. Individuals who follow the EOCC regime abstain from meat, dairy products and eggs for 180-200 days annually, in a temporally-structured manner initiated in childhood. I aim to explore the biological signatures of structured vs. unstructured diet by addressing three objectives. First I will investigate the effects of the two regimes, and of genetic variation, on higher-level phenotypes including anthropometric, physiological and biomarker traits. Second, I will carry out a comprehensive set of omics assays (metabolomics, transcriptomics, epigenomics and investigation of the gut microbiome), will associate omics phenotypes with genetic variation, and will integrate data across biological levels to uncover complex molecular signatures. Third, I will interrogate the functional consequences of dietary regimes at the cellular level through primary cell culture. Acute and long-term effects of dietary intake will be explored for all objectives through a two timepoint sampling strategy. This proposal therefore comprises a unique opportunity to study a specific perturbation (EOCC structured diet) introduced to a steady-state system (unstructured diet followed by the general population) in a ground-breaking human systems biology type of study. This approach brings together expertise from genomics, computational biology, statistics, medicine and epidemiology. It will lead to novel insights regarding the potent signalling nature of nutrients and is likely to yield results of high translational value.

SummaryOxygen (O2) and nitric oxide (NO) are gases that function as key developmental and stress-associated signals in plants. Investigating the molecular basis of their perception has the potential to identify new targets for crop improvement. In previous ground breaking work I showed that the direct transcriptional response to O2/NO is mediated by controlled degradation of specialised ‘gas-sensing’ transcription factors. We have now linked this degradation mechanism to a new functional class of ‘sensor’, a chromatin modifying protein that regulates the epigenetic silencing of genes. Here we will investigate the hypothesis that this protein acts as a previously undiscovered link between O2/NO and chromatin dynamics, and that plants have evolved a unique system for transducing gaseous signals into rapid transcriptional responses, and longer term epigenetic changes, through targeting different types of protein to the same degradation pathway.
Using multidisciplinary genetic, biochemical and omics approaches we will investigate the molecular basis of this novel gas perception system, which appears to be a plant-specific innovation. We will identify its global gene targets (the ‘gas-responsive epigenome’), and uncover its growth and stress-associated functions in Arabidopsis and barley. We will also investigate how manipulating this pathway using genome editing and synthetic biology techniques alters plant performance, focusing on traits of agronomic significance. This ambitious and timely research will take our knowledge of O2/NO-signaling and the control of chromatin dynamics beyond the current state of the art by offering insight into a completely novel signaling mechanism operating at the interface of gas-perception, protein degradation, and epigenetics. GasPlaNt will therefore provide a step-change in our understanding of how plants synchronise their gene expression in response to signals to optimise growth and development within a dynamic environment.

Oxygen (O2) and nitric oxide (NO) are gases that function as key developmental and stress-associated signals in plants. Investigating the molecular basis of their perception has the potential to identify new targets for crop improvement. In previous ground breaking work I showed that the direct transcriptional response to O2/NO is mediated by controlled degradation of specialised ‘gas-sensing’ transcription factors. We have now linked this degradation mechanism to a new functional class of ‘sensor’, a chromatin modifying protein that regulates the epigenetic silencing of genes. Here we will investigate the hypothesis that this protein acts as a previously undiscovered link between O2/NO and chromatin dynamics, and that plants have evolved a unique system for transducing gaseous signals into rapid transcriptional responses, and longer term epigenetic changes, through targeting different types of protein to the same degradation pathway.
Using multidisciplinary genetic, biochemical and omics approaches we will investigate the molecular basis of this novel gas perception system, which appears to be a plant-specific innovation. We will identify its global gene targets (the ‘gas-responsive epigenome’), and uncover its growth and stress-associated functions in Arabidopsis and barley. We will also investigate how manipulating this pathway using genome editing and synthetic biology techniques alters plant performance, focusing on traits of agronomic significance. This ambitious and timely research will take our knowledge of O2/NO-signaling and the control of chromatin dynamics beyond the current state of the art by offering insight into a completely novel signaling mechanism operating at the interface of gas-perception, protein degradation, and epigenetics. GasPlaNt will therefore provide a step-change in our understanding of how plants synchronise their gene expression in response to signals to optimise growth and development within a dynamic environment.

SummaryThe surface of every living cell is covered with a dense matrix of glycans. Its particular composition and structure codes important messages in cell-cell communication, influencing development, differentiation, and immunological processes. The matrix is formed by highly complex biopolymers whose compositions vary from cell to cell, even between genetically identical cells. This gives rise to population noise in cell-cell communication. A second level of noise stems from glycans present on the same cell that disturb the decoding of the message by glycans binding receptors through competitive binding. Glycan-based communication is characterized by a high redundancy of both glycans and their receptors. Thus, noise and redundancy emerge as key properties of glycan-based cell-cell communication, but their extent and function are poorly understood.
By adapting a transmitter-receiver model from communication sciences and combining it with state-of-the-art experimental techniques from biophysics and cell biology, we will address two fundamental questions: What is the role of the redundancy in glycan-based communication? How much ‚noise’ can it tolerate, before the message is lost?
To do so, we first establish a simplified model system for glycan-based communication. Biophysical rate constants are determined for lectin-glycan interactions and expanded to glycosylated microparticles that trigger a biological response in lectin expressing receiver cells. Next, single cell glycomes are reconstructed from ultra-high dimensional flow cytometry data using lectin mixtures enabled by recent advancements in instrumentation and glycobioinformatics software. Glycomes accessible on single cell level allow replacing the microparticles with transmitter cells and employ a cell-cell interaction model. Our transmitter-receiver model is used to quantify the noise and reveals how redundancy provides robustness of messaging by cell surface glycans in cellular communication.

The surface of every living cell is covered with a dense matrix of glycans. Its particular composition and structure codes important messages in cell-cell communication, influencing development, differentiation, and immunological processes. The matrix is formed by highly complex biopolymers whose compositions vary from cell to cell, even between genetically identical cells. This gives rise to population noise in cell-cell communication. A second level of noise stems from glycans present on the same cell that disturb the decoding of the message by glycans binding receptors through competitive binding. Glycan-based communication is characterized by a high redundancy of both glycans and their receptors. Thus, noise and redundancy emerge as key properties of glycan-based cell-cell communication, but their extent and function are poorly understood.
By adapting a transmitter-receiver model from communication sciences and combining it with state-of-the-art experimental techniques from biophysics and cell biology, we will address two fundamental questions: What is the role of the redundancy in glycan-based communication? How much ‚noise’ can it tolerate, before the message is lost?
To do so, we first establish a simplified model system for glycan-based communication. Biophysical rate constants are determined for lectin-glycan interactions and expanded to glycosylated microparticles that trigger a biological response in lectin expressing receiver cells. Next, single cell glycomes are reconstructed from ultra-high dimensional flow cytometry data using lectin mixtures enabled by recent advancements in instrumentation and glycobioinformatics software. Glycomes accessible on single cell level allow replacing the microparticles with transmitter cells and employ a cell-cell interaction model. Our transmitter-receiver model is used to quantify the noise and reveals how redundancy provides robustness of messaging by cell surface glycans in cellular communication.

Max ERC Funding

1 499 813 €

Duration

Start date: 2017-02-01, End date: 2022-01-31

Project acronymIlluMitoDNA

ProjectIlluminating the mechanisms of mitochondrial DNA quality control and inheritance

Researcher (PI)Christof OSMAN

Host Institution (HI)LUDWIG-MAXIMILIANS-UNIVERSITAET MUENCHEN

Call DetailsStarting Grant (StG), LS3, ERC-2016-STG

SummaryEssential subunits of the mitochondrial respiratory chain, which generates the majority of energy in eukaryotic cells, are encoded in the mitochondrial genome (mtDNA) that is present in hundreds of copies in every cell. Mutations within mtDNA have been identified as the cause for a multitude of human diseases and have been tightly linked to the ageing process and altered stem cell homeostasis. Accordingly, to ensure organismal health, good copies of mtDNA have to be faithfully inherited during cell division, their integrity needs to be maintained over generations and they need to be distributed throughout the mitochondrial network to provide all mitochondrial segments with mtDNA encoded proteins. Astonishingly, it remains poorly understood how cells accomplish these fundamental tasks.
Through the development of a novel system that for the first time allowed minimally invasive tracking of mtDNA in living cells, we have gained unique insights into the cellular principles that govern distribution and inheritance of mtDNA and the maintenance of its integrity. This work paved the way to understand the molecular mechanisms that underlie these processes and provides the tools required to elucidate them. We will build on this work and combine cutting-edge microscopy and next generation sequencing with biochemical and genetic approaches to identify and characterize the machineries responsible for (1) mtDNA inheritance and distribution and (2) mtDNA quality control. While these first two aims will exploit the unique experimental advantages of S. cerevisiae, our ultimate goal is (3) to transfer our findings to higher eukaryotes through the development of a mammalian mtDNA imaging system.
This powerful multipronged approach will mechanistically unravel mtDNA dynamics and quality control and will thus provide the necessary basis to understand diseases where these processes are dysregulated.

Essential subunits of the mitochondrial respiratory chain, which generates the majority of energy in eukaryotic cells, are encoded in the mitochondrial genome (mtDNA) that is present in hundreds of copies in every cell. Mutations within mtDNA have been identified as the cause for a multitude of human diseases and have been tightly linked to the ageing process and altered stem cell homeostasis. Accordingly, to ensure organismal health, good copies of mtDNA have to be faithfully inherited during cell division, their integrity needs to be maintained over generations and they need to be distributed throughout the mitochondrial network to provide all mitochondrial segments with mtDNA encoded proteins. Astonishingly, it remains poorly understood how cells accomplish these fundamental tasks.
Through the development of a novel system that for the first time allowed minimally invasive tracking of mtDNA in living cells, we have gained unique insights into the cellular principles that govern distribution and inheritance of mtDNA and the maintenance of its integrity. This work paved the way to understand the molecular mechanisms that underlie these processes and provides the tools required to elucidate them. We will build on this work and combine cutting-edge microscopy and next generation sequencing with biochemical and genetic approaches to identify and characterize the machineries responsible for (1) mtDNA inheritance and distribution and (2) mtDNA quality control. While these first two aims will exploit the unique experimental advantages of S. cerevisiae, our ultimate goal is (3) to transfer our findings to higher eukaryotes through the development of a mammalian mtDNA imaging system.
This powerful multipronged approach will mechanistically unravel mtDNA dynamics and quality control and will thus provide the necessary basis to understand diseases where these processes are dysregulated.

Max ERC Funding

1 851 834 €

Duration

Start date: 2017-08-01, End date: 2022-07-31

Project acronymPHYSBIOHSC

ProjectUnderstanding the physical biology of adult blood stem cells

Researcher (PI)David KENT

Host Institution (HI)UNIVERSITY OF YORK

Call DetailsStarting Grant (StG), LS3, ERC-2016-STG

SummaryThe discovery of functional heterogeneity in normal and malignant stem cells has shifted our understanding of how single cells are subverted to drive cancer. To design therapies for diseases of stem cell origin and to better provide cell populations for clinical applications, it is critical to understand this diversity at the single cell level. This proposal focuses on understanding the complex biology of normal and malignant stem cells and the impact of individual mutations on clonal evolution by studying the physical and quantitative aspects of single blood stem cells.
This proposal aims to study single blood stem cell biomechanics and clonal evolution by leveraging new inter-disciplinary technologies and approaches and applying them to functionally defined mouse and human blood stem cell populations. It will combine in vitro and in vivo biological assays with mathematical modelling and microfluidic technology in an iterative manner across both human and mouse stem cell populations.

The discovery of functional heterogeneity in normal and malignant stem cells has shifted our understanding of how single cells are subverted to drive cancer. To design therapies for diseases of stem cell origin and to better provide cell populations for clinical applications, it is critical to understand this diversity at the single cell level. This proposal focuses on understanding the complex biology of normal and malignant stem cells and the impact of individual mutations on clonal evolution by studying the physical and quantitative aspects of single blood stem cells.
This proposal aims to study single blood stem cell biomechanics and clonal evolution by leveraging new inter-disciplinary technologies and approaches and applying them to functionally defined mouse and human blood stem cell populations. It will combine in vitro and in vivo biological assays with mathematical modelling and microfluidic technology in an iterative manner across both human and mouse stem cell populations.

Max ERC Funding

1 500 000 €

Duration

Start date: 2017-05-01, End date: 2022-04-30

Project acronymPRECISION

ProjectPrecision measurements to discover new scalar and vector particles

Researcher (PI)Johannes ALBRECHT

Host Institution (HI)TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAT DORTMUND

Call DetailsStarting Grant (StG), PE2, ERC-2016-STG

SummaryThe Standard Model of particle physics successfully describes all known particles and their interactions. However, questions like the nature of dark matter or the hierarchy of masses and couplings of quarks and leptons remain to be understood. Hence, one searches for new phenomena that will lead to a superior theory that can explain these questions. All such theories introduce additional quantum corrections. Decay rates of processes which are strongly suppressed in the Standard Model are highly sensitive to these corrections.
The LHCb experiment at CERN has recorded the world’s largest sample of beauty mesons. In the five years of this proposal, this sample will be enlarged by more than a factor of five. This sets an optimal environment for precision tests for new phenomena in strongly suppressed beauty decays.
This proposal aims to discover new scalar or vector particles in precision measurements of leptonic and semi-leptonic beauty decays. These new particles are not predicted by the Standard Model of particle physics, a potential discovery would mark the most important finding in High Energy Physics of the last decades. Some existing anomalies in flavour data can be interpreted as hints for the particles searched for in this proposal. Two classes of measurements are planned within this proposal: the complete scan of purely leptonic beauty decays which include flavour changing neutral current as well as lepton flavour violating modes. Lepton flavour universality is tested in loop decays through a novel inclusive strategy. All proposed measurements will advance the world’s knowledge significantly and have a large discovery potential.

The Standard Model of particle physics successfully describes all known particles and their interactions. However, questions like the nature of dark matter or the hierarchy of masses and couplings of quarks and leptons remain to be understood. Hence, one searches for new phenomena that will lead to a superior theory that can explain these questions. All such theories introduce additional quantum corrections. Decay rates of processes which are strongly suppressed in the Standard Model are highly sensitive to these corrections.
The LHCb experiment at CERN has recorded the world’s largest sample of beauty mesons. In the five years of this proposal, this sample will be enlarged by more than a factor of five. This sets an optimal environment for precision tests for new phenomena in strongly suppressed beauty decays.
This proposal aims to discover new scalar or vector particles in precision measurements of leptonic and semi-leptonic beauty decays. These new particles are not predicted by the Standard Model of particle physics, a potential discovery would mark the most important finding in High Energy Physics of the last decades. Some existing anomalies in flavour data can be interpreted as hints for the particles searched for in this proposal. Two classes of measurements are planned within this proposal: the complete scan of purely leptonic beauty decays which include flavour changing neutral current as well as lepton flavour violating modes. Lepton flavour universality is tested in loop decays through a novel inclusive strategy. All proposed measurements will advance the world’s knowledge significantly and have a large discovery potential.

Max ERC Funding

1 498 249 €

Duration

Start date: 2016-12-01, End date: 2021-11-30

Project acronymQCDforfuture

ProjectQCD for the Future of Particle Physics

Researcher (PI)Jennifer SMILLIE

Host Institution (HI)THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH

Call DetailsStarting Grant (StG), PE2, ERC-2016-STG

SummaryThe momentous discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012 marked the start of a new era in particle physics. The increase in energy of collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) this year allows us to probe fundamental physics at an energy
scale which has been out of reach until now. This presents a challenge to particle theory to keep pace with these developments, and respond to the fact that Standard Model interactions will have different features in this new energy range. We must understand these differences in order to extract as much information as possible from LHC data, and in particular to identify any signs of new physics. My framework, High Energy Jets, is the only tool of its kind to include the dominant high-energy corrections to all orders in the strong coupling and these have already been shown to be necessary to describe data at the lower collisions energies of 7 and 8 TeV. However, these corrections alone are not enough.
My proposed research programme will develop a novel and powerful framework for theoretical predictions based on the lessons learned from LHC Run I. In particular it will combine the necessary high-energy corrections with state-of-the-art next-to-leading-order (NLO) fixed-order descriptions. A separate objective is to combine the high-energy corrections with the resummation contained in parton shower programs. This is necessary to describe data in regions where there is both evolution in rapidity and transverse momentum. The ultimate goal is to combine all three: high-energy corrections, NLO calculation and parton shower. Separate theoretical objectives will significantly improve our understanding of the underlying theory, which should ultimately enhance our description of data far beyond any current prediction. This will be the most complete description of quantum chromodynamics at colliders to date, and will be essential for the exploitation of future data from the LHC and beyond.

The momentous discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012 marked the start of a new era in particle physics. The increase in energy of collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) this year allows us to probe fundamental physics at an energy
scale which has been out of reach until now. This presents a challenge to particle theory to keep pace with these developments, and respond to the fact that Standard Model interactions will have different features in this new energy range. We must understand these differences in order to extract as much information as possible from LHC data, and in particular to identify any signs of new physics. My framework, High Energy Jets, is the only tool of its kind to include the dominant high-energy corrections to all orders in the strong coupling and these have already been shown to be necessary to describe data at the lower collisions energies of 7 and 8 TeV. However, these corrections alone are not enough.
My proposed research programme will develop a novel and powerful framework for theoretical predictions based on the lessons learned from LHC Run I. In particular it will combine the necessary high-energy corrections with state-of-the-art next-to-leading-order (NLO) fixed-order descriptions. A separate objective is to combine the high-energy corrections with the resummation contained in parton shower programs. This is necessary to describe data in regions where there is both evolution in rapidity and transverse momentum. The ultimate goal is to combine all three: high-energy corrections, NLO calculation and parton shower. Separate theoretical objectives will significantly improve our understanding of the underlying theory, which should ultimately enhance our description of data far beyond any current prediction. This will be the most complete description of quantum chromodynamics at colliders to date, and will be essential for the exploitation of future data from the LHC and beyond.